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Love's boss at Wantman Group, an engineering firm subcontracted by the South Florida Water Management District, said the team was replacing gauges at the canal.

"The gator was underwater and came from the bottom," Robin Petzold said. "They never saw it."

One of the gator's teeth tore through Love's boot and punctured his heel, Petzold said.

Love was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center, where he had to stay for the night to make sure the bite didn't become infected from bacteria. A trapper came in and pulled out a 10-foot alligator from the canal, but Petzold thinks it was a second, smaller alligator in the canal that attacked his employee.

"Based on the bite and where it was, I think it was the smaller (gator)," Petzold said. "I’d hate to think what would’ve happened if the bigger one did it."

Petzold said it's not uncommon for his surveyors to work in waters inhabited by alligators, but when it comes to urban canals, the gators are less afraid of humans than they are in the Everglades.

"I’ve been doing this for 32 years and I’ve never seen a gator bite," Petzold said. "I haven’t even seen a snake bite."

Petzold also said his crews plan on coming back to the canal to finish the job, but this time they'll have protection.

"We’re already working on coming up with some type of a cage we can put around the guys so that no gators can come from underwater to get them," Petzold said.

Petzold said Love plans on coming back to work after a couple of days of recuperation.